Front Page and News

Second-hand goods including antiques have helped boost retail sales in June according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics.

A ‘photo gun’ inspired by an African explorer has been snapped up for £138,000 (plus 17.5% buyer’s premium) at Special Auction Services, setting a house record for the Newbury saleroom, writes Tom Derbyshire.

An unusual entry to the latest Silver & Objects of Vertu sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury was this 5in (13cm) silver and mixed metal tea caddy by Tiffany & Co.

A medal, silver cigar box and ‘oil lamp’ lighter sold at Ramsay Cornish's latest sale in Edinburgh had come by descent from Major Jonathan Leslie Dean (1859-1926). He was a key participant in the defence of O’okiep (1902), the small town in the Northern Cape that was besieged by Boer Commandos from April 4-May 4, 1902, towards the end of the Second Boer War.

A High Court judge has given the go-ahead for a full judicial hearing on the legality of the Ivory Act, due to usher in a near-total ban on the UK trade in antique ivory.

Dawn Ades OBE, Jonathan Ashley-Smith and Rebecca Salter RA are the first recipients of the West Dean College of Arts and Conservation fellowships.

A 17th century oak panel marking the rebuilding of one of the best-known dwellings on the Chester Rows sold at auction last week for £4600.

London Auctions Ltd is insolvent and has entered liquidation proceedings.

A rare pair of bookends by Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson attracted huge interest and a remarkable £10,000 winning bid at Lawrences of Crewkerne.

The Antiquities Dealers’ Association (ADA) has said dealers and auctioneers should stand up to “the politicisation of the antiquities trade” in the wake of a row surrounding the sale of a £4m sculpture.

Two south-coast dealers have secured the future of more than 100 traders with the purchase of a Bournemouth centre.

Two previously unpublished watercolours painted by Lady Anne Barnard (1750-1825) during her momentous visit to the Cape of Good Hope emerged for sale at Stephan Welz & Co in South Africa earlier this month. They came for sale from the descendants of Lady Anne who had owned them since 1966.

A Louis XV period rococo commode made in 1744 for the Château de Versailles has returned home after more than 30 years out of France.

The proportion of picture dealers standing at fairs has risen significantly during the last two years according to findings from the latest biennial Society of London Art Dealers (SLAD) survey.

A silver pocket watch by ‘father of British clockmaking’ Thomas Tompion has been literally unearthed in Northumberland.